Techies suspend strike

Five thousand engineers on strike under the aegis of Bihar Engineering Service Association (Besa) on Tuesday decided to suspend their 35-day agitation for the time being and resume work on Wednesday.

Engineers from all eight departments took part in a general body meeting at Abhiyanta Bhavan to arrive at the decision.

Besa general secretary Rajeshwar Mishra told the media: “The association has decided to suspend the strike for the time being, as deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told the Assembly that the government would constitute a new committee to look into our demands within three days. That committee would give a timeframe within which our demands would be accepted.”

He added: “We do not know what timeframe the new committee would give but if our demands are not accepted, we will again go on a strike. As for now, all striking engineers would resume work from tomorrow.”

The indefinite strike, which started on February 6, entered its 35th day on Tuesday. It affected the work of eight key departments, including road construction, building construction, water resources, public health and engineering, urban, rural works, minor irrigation and planning and development.

Replying to a call attention by RJD member Bhai Birendra on the issue in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Modi said that the government was prepared to accept the demands of striking engineers and those related to procedural changes.

Asked about the loss of work owing to the strike, Mishra said: “Work that has been affected by the strike cannot be compensated now. The water resources department was the most affected because the flood calendar, supposed to be completed in the last 30 days, is incomplete.”